Monday, June 8, 2015

Important Political News and Conservative Opinion

Update

Oh, joy, I seem to have added a new health problem--Restless Leg Syndrome (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/restless_legs/detail_restless_legs.htm)--which is stopping me from getting enough sleep some nights, to my airway collapse, mucus buildup and aneurysm. Checking in to the treatment. On the plus side, my recent CT scan shows no increase in the aneurysm since last July, holding around 4.4-4.5 cm, so the plan is to wait and see. ~Bob

Excerpt: The media’s focus is on Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state, and whether she took official actions to benefit her family’s global charity. But the mistake is starting from the premise that the Clinton Foundation is a “charity.” What’s clear by now is that this family enterprise was set up as a global shakedown operation, designed to finance and nurture the Clintons’ continued political ambitions. It’s a Hillary super PAC that throws in the occasional good deed. That much is made obvious by looking at the foundation’s employment rolls. Most charities are staffed by folks who have spent a lifetime in nonprofits, writing grants or doing overseas field work. The Clinton Foundation is staffed by political operatives. It has been basically a parking lot for Clinton campaign workers—a comfy place to draw a big check as they geared up for Hillary’s presidential run.

Bill Clinton Was Paid $400K By Singapore Company That Was Scamming Its Employees [VIDEO]. By Chuck Ross

Excerpt: The Internet was littered with scam warnings from small-time contractors who claimed they had been ripped off by Singapore-based UNI Strategic, but that didn’t seem to bother the State Department or Bill Clinton. The agency, headed at the time by Hillary Clinton, signed off on a Nov. 14, 2010, speech delivered by the former president on behalf of UNI at the Presidential World Economic Forum held in Taipei, Taiwan. The payday: $400,000.

Excerpt: Hillary Clinton is crushing the rest of the Democratic presidential field in national polls, but over the weekend, in a Wisconsin straw poll, there was reason to give the Clinton camp pause and the Bernie Sanders camp hope — Sanders scored a strong second-place finish with 41 percent of the vote, to Clinton’s 49 percent. The Vermont senator, a self-described democratic socialist and a long shot for the White House, received 208 of 511 delegate votes at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention in Milwaukee on Saturday, while Clinton won votes from 252 of the delegates, leaving her just short of a majority.

How Obama’s Politics Have Set Hillary Up To Fail. By Christopher Bedford

Excerpt: Under President Barack Obama, Democrats have forfeited white and working-class voters, relying instead on historically high black and Hispanic support. Under Mr. Obama’s leadership, the party hasn’t needed to pay attention to moderate Democrats, middle-class white Democrats, working-class white Democrats. “It’s the economy, stupid,” James Carville once advised President Bill Clinton. Today, as the economy flounders and falters, that has been replaced with, “It’s the windmills, illegal immigrants, and Kim K’s dad in heels, stupid.” In other words, nothing anyone outside of Los Angeles or New York City cares about. And the results haven’t been pretty.

The Coming Democratic Panic. Watch what happens if Hillary Clinton falls behind in the polls. By Fred Barnes

Excerpt: When a CNN poll last week showed Hillary Clinton leading Rand Paul by a single percentage point (48-47) and only three points ahead of Marco Rubio (49-46) and Scott Walker (49-46), it was mildly shocking. In April, her lead over the three Republican presidential candidates had been in double digits: Paul (58-39), Rubio (55-41), and Walker (59-37). But wait. If the next CNN survey shows Clinton actually behind one or two or three of the GOP candidates, it won’t be just shocking. It will send Democrats into a near-panic over the possibility of losing the White House in 2016, even with their preferred candidate, Clinton, as nominee.

Clinton Donated $100K to New York Times Group the Same Year Paper Endorsed Her. Publisher pushed hard for Clinton endorsement in 2008. By Alana Goodman

Excerpt: A little-known private foundation controlled by Bill and Hillary Clinton donated $100,000 to the New York Times’ charitable fund in 2008, the same year the newspaper’s editorial page endorsed Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary, according to tax documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Clinton Family Foundation, a separate entity from the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, has been the family’s vehicle for personal charitable giving since 2001.

Excerpt: The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed an act that would prohibit abortions from 20 weeks after fertilization, except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of a mother is endangered. A photograph in the womb at this stage of development: The legislation states that its purpose is to protect “the lives of unborn children from the stage at which substantial medical evidence indicates that they are capable of feeling pain.” According to the bill’s authors, this occurs “by 20 weeks after fertilization, if not earlier.” Media outlets, however, are reporting otherwise. For example:

Excerpt: Indiana is a national leader in school choice. The Hoosier state has two sizable and rapidly growing school choice programs that help families enroll their children in the schools that work best for them. During the 2013-14 school year, more than 11,000 students received tax-credit scholarships to attend the school of their family's choice, and nearly 30,000 students received school vouchers — up from fewer than 3,000 scholarships and 4,000 vouchers two years earlier.

Excerpt: Though Gen. Raymond Odierno lauded the women in the course, he reiterated Thursday that “I’m actually fairly adamant about not changing the physical standards.” Yet, this view isn’t consistent throughout the military. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is hoping to aggressively boost recruitment of women into the service. Mabus said he’ll reevaluate training standards once women enter the SEAL pipeline.

Excerpt: Must I? Oh, have it your way: Now This Is No Shit. Once upon a time, circa 1983, in the magical place called “Panama,” on a little jewel of a post known as “FortKobbe,” the S3 of 3rd Battalion, 5th Infantry was in a bit of a quandary. Not only was essentially the entire battalion tasked to go to the Honduras-Nicaragua border to raise Sandinista1 blood pressure and take some pressure off the contras2 trying to oust them, but the 3 had just received a tasking to provide an infantry company to play commie guerilla out at FortSherman, the Army’s jungle school. ((Tom Kratman is a retired USA LtCol, an occasional contributor to this blog, and an outstand author of military science fiction, including the A Desert Called Peace series. http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Called-Peace-Carrera-Book-ebook/dp/B00B5HJOFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426715332&sr=8-1&keywords=Peace+Kratman ~Bob)

Excerpt: Commonly used and unregulated internet discussions and videos about guns and ammo could be closed down under rules proposed by the State Department, amounting to a "gag order on firearm-related speech," the National Rifle Association is warning. In updating regulations governing international arms sales, State is demanding that anyone who puts technical details about arms and ammo on the web first get the OK from the federal government — or face a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in jail. According to the NRA, that would include blogs and web forums discussing technical details of common guns and ammunition, the type of info gun owners and ammo reloaders trade all the time.

Race Card News

Former South Carolina police officer indicted in shooting of unarmed man

Excerpt: A former North Charleston police officer was indicted on a murder charge Monday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man who was running away from the officer after a traffic stop. The shooting April 4 was captured on video by a bystander and showed officer Michael Slager firing eight times as 50-year-old Walter Scott ran away.

Excerpt: Dozens of activists are calling on a Dallas-based video broadcast station to fire a black talk show host for blaming a group of mostly black teenagers for starting a fracas at a private swimming pool in McKinney, Tex. on Friday. Benet Embry, who hosts an internet show on Deep Ellum on Air and lives in the neighborhood, has been accused by some for being a traitor to his race after he posted to his Facebook account to push back against what he called a false media narrative that has been crafted in the wake of the incident. (You will think and say what the Party tells you, comrade....~Bob)

Excerpt: That’s when Brooks says the officer, reportedly identified as Cpl. Eric Casebolt, arrived on the scene and flipped out. “He trips and drops his flashlight. He’s going crazy, putting people in handcuffs, tackling people, slinging them on the ground.” So, why wasn’t Brooks handcuffed? “I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening. You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down.”

Excerpt: Hawaii is taking its troubled ObamaCare insurance exchange off life support, the governor’s office announced Friday, the latest addition to a growing number of state exchanges forced to close after operations became unsustainable. The once-highly praised Hawaii Health Connector has been “unable to generate sufficient revenues to sustain operations,” Gov. David Ige’s office said in a statement. The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) informed the exchange last week that federal funds were no longer available to support long-term operations.

Obamacare's 'Accountable Care' Experiment Is All Hype, No Substance. By Sally Pipes

Excerpt: In the Obamacare case, the administration hand-picked the providers that could participate in the ACOs to maximize the chance of success. And even then, 13 of the original 32organizations dropped out as a result of the program’s punishing complexity and costly regulations. Most providers refused to join in the first place. Organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic — hospitals that President Obama has touted as excellent models of integrated care — declined to participate.

RNC Turns Up the Heat in Florida: 'Hillary Clinton has Fully Embraced Obamacare.' By Kevin Derby

Excerpt: On Monday, looking to trip up former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Florida, the largest swing state in the 2016 presidential election, the Republican National Committee (RNC) fired away at her over President Barack Obama’s federal health-care law.

Using numbers from Healthcare.gov, the RNC showcased a new website on Monday, noting that average premiums have increased by 24.5 percent in the SunshineState due to Obama’s federal health-care law. The site notes that the highest premium in Florida went up more than 62.5 percent. “Both Clinton and Obama promised lower premiums under Obamacare, but Americans across the country are facing another round of double-digit rate hikes to their health-care premiums,” the RNC insists on the site.

Excerpt: A series of legal setbacks have halted the government’s intensive preparations to move forward with President Obama’s executive actions shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, even as community organizations continue a rapid push to get ready for the programs, according to U.S. officials and immigrant advocacy groups.

Excerpt: The three suspects have been identified as 17-year-old Jose Cornejo, 18-year-old Bryan Larios and 17-year-old Joel Escobar, all of Brentwood. ... All three are from El Salvador and are members of the MS-13 street gang.

The aim of the German Energy Transition is to decarbonize the energy supply by increasing access to renewable energy and improving energy efficiency. A key part of the Energy Transition is the outright rejection of nuclear power and the shutdown of nuclear facilities by 2022. The strategy focuses instead on wind, biomass, hydropower, solar power, geothermal and ocean power. ... The rush into renewables was also poorly timed and coincided with increased investments into traditional energy production by utility companies. The increased generation from both renewables and fossil-fuel power plants has overwhelmed demand causing prices to fall and hurt profits.

Climate Science Magic: Data “Adjusted” to Make Warming Pause Disappear from Record

Excerpt: Climate science consists in the ability to shamelessly manipulate information in order to substantiate already-decided conclusions. Now, if you ask scientists over at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about the dreaded “hiatus” in global warming we’ve experienced over the past 20 years, they’ll say, “What hiatus?” Until very recently, this pause in warming existed and was public knowledge.

Excerpt: Ten months since the start of the American-led intervention against ISIS in Iraq, President Obama said today that the United States does not have a "complete strategy" to defeat ISIS and stem the group's rise in Syria and Iraq. "We don't yet have a complete strategy," Obama said at the G7 summit of world leaders in Germany. "The details of that are not yet worked out."

Our "no civilian casualties" policy

As you know, President Obama's spokesperson has said that we don't bomb ISIS targets if there is a danger of civilian casualties, thus encouraging the use of human shields. Contrast this with 1944. The allies planned to bomb France rail centers to keep Nazi reinforcements from reaching the D-Day landing in time to throw the troops into the sea. With predictions of high casualties among French civilians, and afraid of turning the French against us, the British war Cabinet asked Ike to limit the bombing to targets where there would be less than 100 civilian casualties. Ike refused, saying that would emasculate the effort. We bombed, the targets were destroyed, German reinforcements were delayed, the landing succeeded--and 20,000 French civilians died, 40,000 were wounded. The French mostly understood that the deaths were the Nazis fault. ~Bob

Excerpt: Provisional ballot results showed the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, falling short of the votes needed to maintain its three-term stronghold in parliament. The party, which Mr. Erdogan led until his election to the nonpartisan presidency last August, secured less than 41% of the vote, according to state media, down from almost 50% in the previous general election. That tally, the party’s weakest since sweeping to power in 2002, fell 18 seats short of the 276 needed to form a single-party government in Ankara’s 550-member parliament. While the figures hadn’t yet been confirmed by the electoral commission, all three opposition parties said they wouldn’t partner with the AKP in a coalition. (AKP getting knocked around is good news, but my sense back when I was living in Ankara is that certain traits are baked into the cake of the Turkish political system no matter which party is running the show: a deep vein of paranoia that every other country is out to get Turkey, a wariness that enemies within are constantly at work (admittedly, sometimes true) . . . while at the same time, a strange naiveté about the country’s rough neighbors, particularly Syria and Iran, and an attitude towards Israel that is schizophrenic at best and nauseatingly anti-Semitic at worst. Back when I was there, the only force in Turkish life that seemed to consistently have a clear view of the country’s real enemies and forces of destabilization -- i.e., Iranian mullahs, Assad, Islamist extremists, and terror groups -- was the Turkish military -- and obviously not everyone in it. They tended to have a cordial, if not warm, relationship with the Israeli military -- joint-training, etc. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt. http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)

A Malaysian government official has blamed last week's deadly earthquake on a group of ten tourists whom he claimed "showed disrespect to [a] sacred mountain" by posing for photos naked at the summit last week. Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the deputy chief minister for the Malaysian state of Sabah, told reporters Saturday that a special ritual would be conducted at a later date to "appease the mountain spirit." Meanwhile, authorities said that five of the ten climbers were believed to still be in Malaysia and would not be permitted to leave on grounds of gross indecency. (Should've kept their tight jeans on....Barb)

Excerpt: The Supreme Court struck down a disputed law Monday that would have allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as Israel on their U.S. passports in an important ruling that underscores the president's authority in foreign affairs. The court ruled 6-3 that Congress overstepped its bounds when it approved the law in 2002. It would have forced the State Department to alter its long-standing policy of not listing Israel as the birthplace for Jerusalem-born Americans and listing only "Jerusalem."

Excerpt: The KnollwoodMemorial Park funeral home in Canton, Massachusetts, refused any part in his burial, which his family hoped to hold today. 'They wouldn't take him because he was a suspected terrorist,' Abdullah Faruuq, Imam of the Mosque for Praising Allah in Roxbury, told CNN.

History Has Been Made. Female Genital Mutilation Banned In Nigeria. "More than 130 million girls and women have experienced female genital mutilation or cutting ..." By Kimberly Richards

Excerpt: This was one of the last acts by the outgoing president, Goodluck Jonathan. His successor, Muhammadu Buhari, was sworn into office this past Friday, May 29. (Buhari is a Muslim. Be interesting to see if this is enforced. ~Bob)

Excerpt: The White House isn’t commenting on the exposure of a secret presidential directive, but critics tell WND it confirms what they feared: The Obama administration has an official policy of backing so-called “moderate Islamists,” including the jihadist group the Muslim Brotherhood. A source familiar with the document told the Washington Times the “policy of backing the Muslim Brotherhood is outlined in a secret directive called Presidential Study Directive-11, or PSD-11.” The governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates officially consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but the presidential directive reportedly shows the White House considers the group a “moderate” alternative to ISIS and al-Qaida.

Excerpt: Boko Haram has killed thousands of people and displaced some 1.5 million in an insurgency to establish an Islamic caliphate in the northeast of Nigeria but appears to have lost most of the territory it seized to government counter-offensives this year.

The Iraqi Army No Longer Exists. ISIS’s victory in Ramadi reveals that containment is the best the U.S. can do for now. By Barry Posen

Excerpt: The most important fact revealed by ISIS’s victory is that the “Iraqi Army” no longer exists. This is a different observation from that of Secretary of Defense Carter, who avers that they lost the will to fight. Some people did lose the will to fight in Ramadi. But, we should ask a more fundamental question. Ramadi was under siege for months. How is it that few if any reinforcements were sent to defend a city deemed critical to the defense of Baghdad itself? Public sources reported some fourteen divisions in the Iraqi Army in 2014. Between three and five were destroyed in Mosul, leaving nine. At most one was defending Ramadi.

Excerpt: How can they attract “highly trained foreigners” when they represent, as every Western authority will tell us, a twisted version of Islam that outrages all of the true, peaceful principles of the religion? The cognitive dissonance is absolute, but no one in any position of power or influence seems to notice or care.

Excerpt: Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld an internationally condemned verdict against a liberal blogger who was publicly flogged after being found guilty of insulting Islam, state-linked news websites reported Sunday. The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the sentence of Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old father of three who was lashed in January in a public square, is final and cannot be overturned without a royal pardon.

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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tinyurl.com/o4nu65u. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.